Back in July, looking back on his first term, President Obama cited as his biggest mistake his failure “to tell a story to the American people.” We know that Obama has told plenty of stories, and Joe Biden pitched in Thursday at the Democratic National Convention to repeat one of the doozies — that “Barack had to sit at the end of his mom’s hospital bed and watch her fight cancer and fight her insurance companies at the same time.”
"Barack is a young man who had to sit at the end of his mothers hospital bed and fight about insurance policies." -VP Biden
— PoeticMoment (@PoeticMoment) September 7, 2012
Joe Biden just made me cry! "Obama sitting on his moms bed as she was fighting for her life and on the phone fighting for insurance!"
— LINDA WENTZELL⭐️⭐️⭐️⌛️ (@lusciouslindaw) September 7, 2012
Obama may have called the Republican convention a “rerun,” but many can’t believe that Biden is repeating this episode, a story which made the campaign rounds in 2008 and was retold in the campaign film “The Road We’ve Traveled,” despite being debunked several times.
Seriously? Biden just went to gramma and the insurance thing?
— Rune (@runedart) September 7, 2012
Biden recycles Obama's 2008 lie about mother's insurance. Debunked a year ago by NYTimes but Dems don't care. #DNC2012
— Jonathan S. Tobin (@jonathans_tobin) September 7, 2012
Biden repeats the "Obama's mother fought the insurance company" lie. His mother's insurance covered everything without a fight. #DNC2012
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) September 7, 2012
#Biden repeats lie abt #Obama mom fighting with insurance company. #NYT writer's book exposed it. She had health ins #DNC
— teriobrien (@teriobrien) September 7, 2012
Just tuned in to hear Chains Biden tell the already debunked story about Obama's mom and ins co http://t.co/p1OK8Jsq #pathetic #p2
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) September 7, 2012
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https://twitter.com/jq_adams/status/243886908411887616
RT @runedart Seriously? Biden just went to gramma and the insurance thing? / Stunning. Even tingle-up-leg-boy knows about that lie. #DNC
— El Lashbo (@El_Lashbo) September 7, 2012
Factchecking Biden on Obama's mother http://t.co/w6bGZ4HR
— Rachel Weiner (@rachelweinerwp) September 7, 2012
Research done by journalist Janny Scott for her biography, “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother,” disputes the idea that Stanley Ann Dunham had to fight the insurance companies. A White House spokesman didn’t challenge the book’s version of events, responding only, “The president has told this story based on his recollection of events that took place more than 15 years ago.”
Biden teared up earlier in the evening when accepting the nomination for vice president, but forgive us if we don’t reach for the tissues on this one.
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